Winnowing-mill



l STAES OFFICE.

MANASSEH GROVER, OF CLYDE, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND I-I. H. SEELY,OF

HUDSON, MICHIGAN.

WINNOWING-MILL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,995, datedAugust 11, 185'?.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, MANAssEH GRovER, of Clyde,Sandusky county, Ohio, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Winnowing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the annexed drawings of the same, making part of this specification,and in which- Figure l represents a vertical section of a winnowingmachine embracingV my improvement, and Fig. 2, a top view of the same.

In both these views the hopper is removed.

In all grain cleaning machines which I have seen one defect was mostprominent, viz, the failure of the fan to impart to the screens andgrain, not more than about onehalf of the air created by it; for, it iswell known that not much more than. that proportion is forced by the fanout of the case, but kept within it and carried around and around withthe fan-blades. An attempt has been made to obviate this defect byplacing the blades of the fan obliquely in such manner as to tendconstantly to force the air fromA the center; but I have found that eventhis arrangement does not force i j r out the air it creates (for thelack of compression). Knowing therefore, that the full volume of theblast of the fan would greatly facilitate the cleaning of the grain, Iendeavored to obtain it, and by actual experiment I found that by simplyarranging in the throat or opening (a) of the fan case (b) a series ofair troughs or scoops (c) which extend from the case (b), that theywould catch the air from the blades so as to cause it to pass freelyfrom the case, and thus prevent a large portion (as in other machines)from passing back and following the rotary motion of the fan, which itcertainly would do if these troughs were not thus arranged, or if theywere Hat boa-rds, as in the other machines. And to act in connectionwith the scoops (c) in effecting this desirable result, I haveconstructed the blades (d) of the fan, so that the plane of` v screens.

,philosophy of it is that the fan-blades in their rotary motion throwthe air off from the center nearly downward at the air passage of thefan case, and strike the scoops or troughs nearly in a downwarddirection (therefore the philosophy of the scoopshaped boards is quiteobvious) and down very near to the scoops or troughs before the airbecomes compressed sufficient to produce an air current having itsrequired velocity; and, to accomplish this compression mostl effectuallythe air must have two directions, outward and inward; the outward motionis toA place the air where it can be thrown upon the scoops or troughsfor compression by the obtuse angle (e) of the fan blades. The mereoutward direction from the fan case throws the current of air againsttoolarge a volume of air to produce an air current having the requiredvelocity; consequently this shape or arrangement of the fan blades isexceedingly obvious and indispensable, and does not require the scoopboards to stand as far apart as it would be supposed.

The bottoms of the scoops at their open side are made flat and extend ashort distance from the fan case, for the purpose of directing the airupon the screens of the shoe. It will therefore be seen that it is notthe purpose of these troughs to divide the air into more currents, butonly to act in conjunction with the obtuse angle of the fan blades toincrease the blast or to obtain the benefit of the full volume andforce, which is created by the surface of each fan blade, by which thecleaning of the rain will not only be facilitated, but the labor ofturning the machine is also much reduced, inasmuch as the fan does notrequire to be turned near as rapidly as with those in general use.

The obtuse angles (e) of the blades (d) are formed near the outer edgesthereof by making a portion (about 'one-fifth) of the oblique bladeradiate from the shaft upon which their arms (g) are mounted, and theoblique part (d) forms a tangent to a circle about half the diameter ofthe case, (b) and the tendency of the part (d) is to force the air fromthe center. Yet, on trying it Without the obtuse angle (e) I found thatit did not give out as inueh blast or with as much force as it did whenoperating with the angular form seen in the drawings. f

I/Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Arranging in the throat or opening of the fan case a series of troughsor scoops (c) in combination with the obtuse angles 10 (e) of the fanblades, in the manner and for the purpose herein fully described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my. hand and seal.

MANASSEH GROVER. [11. s] Attest:

WILLIAM GRISHAM, JOI-1N S. HOLLINGSHEAD.

